Friday, September 13. 2013

There are a lot of topics and pics this time around. I will lump most together in this entry, and make a following entry for the CGW X 38.

What is a Clamshell

The crew working on Cleveland Transit System 4223 has a nickname for everything. In this case there is no mistaking the formed metal head lining going into the front end of the PCC. It is not really that thin, so it is pretty heavy and required many hands. To lift it, hold it up, and take deep breathing exercises while some screws were driven into place.

Another View

In case you did not recognize all the players in the first picture, here is another view of the crew on the clamshell job. Maybe this is the better side that you will be able to set names to.

Ad Card Panels

Nick Rindt set up some horses on the outside and scrubbed paint off of several of the metal panels that were used to hold ad cards.

Primed

Al Reinschmidt came over to the shop near the middle of the afternoon and set about taking the above panels, wiping them down, and applying primer.

Have a Seat

John Mc Kelvey is working on another seat for the LAKE CITY. This bench seat is destined to go into the smoking lounge of the Men's Lavatory.

Canvas

John Faulhaber (shown) and Gerry Dettloff have spent a few extra days on campus this week. The result is a new piece of roof canvas in place on the Lake Shore Electric 810. This traction trailer has been a long time in the shop and now it appears the end may be near. The canvas has been stretched and tacks are being driven.

Speaking of Roofs

Just across the aisle from the LSE 810 is our Michigan Electric 28. Jeff Brady and Norm Krentel have labored long and hard and here is the result. A new wood roof, sanded, painted, and ready to receive new canvas of its own.

Put a Shine On It

Jeff Brady was in the shop and had set up a buffing wheel to polish brass window lifts and other hardware for the ME 28.

And the Window

Another restored window for the ME 28 receives some attention from Jeff as he mounts the needed hardware on the sash.

Thursday, September 12. 2013

You have to see it!! In conjunction with Museum Showcase Weekend we are holding an open house for our Chicago Great Western X 38 Russell snowplow. This has been on site less than two years yet an amazing amount of work has been done. We have manufactured and installed eleven new windows, two doors, and relined most of the interior wood siding in the rear box of the plow body. Most of the cab cupola has been restored and that includes a newly restored and upholstered operators seat. Many body repairs have been done and the south side and rear end are completely repainted and lettered. Most of the remaining body is quickly being restored and repainted. Air piping has been repaired and is working.

Last year we did much this same thing to the delight of many of our visitors. So stop by Track 40 from 1-2 PM and look over the progress.

Sitting Pretty

We will also include the opportunity to climb into the car and up into the cab. Plan on staying there a minute and taking a turn at the controls to be able to personally operate one of the plow wings! This will require physical ability to climb steps and a ladder and there are cramped spaces and a potential headknocker. We will have a donation jar on hand so please fill it with greenbacks to help the work continue.

Sunday, September 8. 2013

It is good to be on the home straight with 1630 but it is
increasingly clear that there is still a lot of work to do!.Also some of it is pretty slow and tedious.

It has been a huge benefit to have Brian Davies on site for
the last three weeks and a great deal has been achieved in that time.Things will move a lot more slowly when he
returns to Florida on Monday.

When I arrived on Saturday it was spectacular to see most of
the steam collection in the open air, having been switched out of barn 9 for the
filming of the Transformers 4.

A rare view of 201 standing in the sun

While 4963 stands in the steam lead

On 1630 the has been a lot of progress.The two major areas of activity have been finalizing
the fitting of tubes (as a prerequisite to installing the super heater elements)
and fitting lagging to allow installation of controls and air tanks that must
be in place to allow testing.

·During the week Brian Davies had put in a lot of
hours and had completed the beading of all tubes in the rear tube sheet;

Firebox tube ends now
completed

·On Saturday teams of us took it in turns to
prosser the tube ends in the rear tube sheet.This process involves expanding the tube slightly on the water side of
the tube sheet, using a multi-segment expander driven by an air hammer.The effect of slightly expanding the tube on
the water side is to firmly lock the tube into the sheet between the bead and
the slight expansion caused by prossering.Anyway, it is a two man job and, by several teams taking it in turns,
all 200 tubes were completed by late afternoon.The boiler was then refilled and we started to heat the water.The objective on Sunday will be to test the
tube ends under operating pressure and tighten any that show leaks as a result
of the beading and prossering.As soon
as we are satisfied that the tube ends are dry, the tubing exercise is
complete.The motor can then be removed
from the smoke box and installation of the super heater elements can
begin.So I wait with some trepidation
to see if this can be achieved on Sunday !.

·Stu and Bob worked with Tom to set up a mounting
that will allow the throttle to be rigidly located for machining and
lapping.The surfaces of the throttle
valve need to be leveled and ground to a tight fit that will provide a good
seal before the throttle is refitted.By
end of day the throttle was mounted and ready for work to be done.

·Dennis started on the plate work and mesh that
fits around the blast pipe.He has now
assessed all the pieces and identified what new material will need to be fitted
to complete this structure once the blast pipe is in place and the super heater
elements tested.

·The lagging is proving rather more troublesome.
Two areas are critical for the steam test, the firebox in the cab (to allow
fitting of numerous pipes, valves and gauges that are required both for steam
testing and pressure testing of the super heater elements) and the first couple
of sections of the barrel at the front (to allow refitting of the large air
tanks required to complete the air system).

·Work started on fitting the barrel lagging at
the front.This is not as simple as it
looks (and it does not even look that simple !).The insulation is rigid blocks that cannot be
conformed to the curvature of the barrel.So it must be cut into strips about 12 inches wide and the edges cut at
an angle so that adjacent blocks fit tightly together along their length.However the blocks must also be tapered along
their length.The boiler is formed of
3/4 inch plate in overlapping sections.So, in order to get a smooth taper over which the sheet metal can be
fitted, the 2 1/2 inch insulation must be tapered along its length.(Basically the last section at the rear of
one boiler ring is the full 2 1/2 inches thick while the front section on the
next ring to the rear is 1 3/4 inches thick so that the insulation runs
smoothly over the 3/4 inch transition in the boiler plates).Then, having cut sections of insulation to
the correct taper along its length and sides, each must be cut around any
pipes, hand rails or other projections to fit a specific location.The block is then wired to the wire rings
that were placed around the barrel some weeks ago until a complete circle is
achieved around the boiler.This will then
be strapped into place and the sheet metal fitted over it.

Eric fits blocks of
lagging

The circle begins to
form

·The sheet metal provided a bit of a
setback.Jane had done a lot of work to
ensure that all the metal had been cleaned and primedready for use and had actually been short of
painting work in the last couple of weeks once this was done.When we tried to locate the first major
sheets required for the front ring they could not be found .............. until
we found a whole lot of 1630 sheet metal that had been stored behind a few
sheets belonging to #26 !!.It had been
overlooked for cleaning and painting so Jerry spent much of the evening wire
brushing a lot of sheets and I started painting the ones we need most urgently
..... oh bleep !.

Jerry hard at work on the ones we
overlooked

·However the real nightmare is the cab.The sheets covering the top and sides of the
firebox in the cab overlap and hold down the curved sections that cover the
transition between wrapper and backhead.These, in turn, secure the sheets covering the backhead.The arch of sheet metal running up the sides
and across the top of the firebox in the cab must first be located so that the
curved sections can be located under its edge.The critical element of the arch is that two pieces of sheet metal must
be worked up into the maze of pipes and valves around the turret and linked
with 3/8th threaded rods either side of the turret. In addition, insulation
must be set under this area in the form of small cut blocks or mud.Once the link is made the sheets form a
complete arch that is tensioned by other threaded rods secured into the
footplate.All jolly good fun as the
area into which the metal and insulation must be placed can only be reached at
arms' length from the narrow space at the sides of the firebox or by lying on
the cab roof and reaching down several feet into a nest of pipes.

oMost of the work in this area on Saturday was
planning to determine in which order pieces can best be fitted.This is critical to the project as the
controls essential to testing for leakage in the super heaters cannot be fitted
until this is done.

oThe sheet metal either side of the firebox is in
place to provide protection to the insulation already installed.

Sheet metal in place in the
cab

oDavid finished cleaning the fire hole door and I
chased the threads on the mounting studs so this can be fitted as soon as the
tube ends in the fire box have been proved tight.This is important as much of the backhead
lagging is based upon the fire hole door casting.

In other areas
within the shop:

·Phil and Cameron
worked with Tom on machining the bolster for the Shay;

·Dennis started the
long process of building up the axle boxes for 428;

First steps in building up the axle
boxes

·Stu and Bob achieved
a major milestone on the planer.The
power is now connected and both motors were tested.The head can now be raised and lowered
correctly and the motor driving the hydraulic pump now operates.The next big challenge is how to remove
decades of muck from the drain area under the bed.Since the lubricant supply to the table is
collected and returned to the pump thru this area, there is a considerable
incentive to get it as clean as possible before we try circulating oil thru the
system.

The planer is now starting to work

So, a lot of work
done but still a good deal more needed to get to the steam test.

Nigel

Sunday, September 8. 2013

This astounding sight greeted me as I entered the Museum yesterday. A long line up of steam locomotives on the car line trackage - pieces which rarely see the light of day, even one of them. The event was last Thursday and Friday when IRM was host for location shooting for the new hardcore action movie, TRANSFORMERS 4. At least that is how the studio describes it. It is scheduled to be released in June 2014.

As you can see, service on the car line had to be annulled for the day, and probably today also. I saw the wood L cars running on the main line. But Friday, the studio was out en mass complete with car chase scenes and two helicopters in the air. Apparently there are fans of this sort of thing and they came to IRM to try to get a peek at the action and celebrities. By late afternoon Olson Road was lined with 30 or 40 parked cars, and the occupants along our fence peering inside. Movie security kept them at bay. But it has been reported from reliable sources that MARK WAHLBERG was seen inside our diner snacking and visiting with staff.

That is not all you will find outdoors for photo opportunities. Virtually all the pieces that live inside Barn 9 are out and spotted in some location around the property. But hurry, they will not be there for long, since operating tracks need to be cleared for next weekend.

Friday, September 6. 2013

Victor Humphreys has completed painting the first coat of finish paint on all the new wood lining we have applied, one careful piece at a time. It really looks great. We are planning a plow event for Saturday afternoon of Museum Showcase Weekend. So come on out on the 14th and see what has been done. A really remarkable lot of progress in the last year, thanks to the team members, not so much me. Maybe we can shake a few quarters from your pocket change to help assure we can continue to buy the needed materials. Or, send a check to fund RX38.

Train Line

Last week we showed you the train line air pipe going back on the plow after being worked on. That was the good news. The bad news is that it leaked air badly. The culprit seems to be a BARCO ball joint which was designed to allow that pipe to be raised and folded back on the front roof when the unit was plowing. So Victor Humprheys and Paul Cronin tackled the project. First, to wrestle a scaffold into position and then to take the line back down.

Careful - -

The idea was to use the scaffold to make it safer to pull on some really large pipe wrenches. But getting down for Paul Cronin meant Dave Diaz needed to act as anchor and counterweight on the other end. Mission accomplished.

In For a Dime

The old saying goes "In for a dime, in for a dollar". Paul Cronin is torching off a broken L bracket used to anchor the train line on the front end. With the pipe off again we might as well bite the bullet and make a new bracket.

The Old Grind

Where have I seen that caption before? Well, I guess it does not matter. With the old bracket and blobs of weld torched off, Paul grinds the remaining nubbins smooth and will then fabricate a new bracket.

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Comments

Roger Kramer about New Diesel Arrives for the CollectionThu, 12-08-2016 07:46Hi Andy I know, you guys did an
excellent job of unloading the
diesel as well as the turn table!
No other museum could accomplish
what you fellas [...]

Matt Maloy about More Happy Holiday ScenesWed, 12-07-2016 19:23There has been a rumor going around
the CNW Dash-9 twins are now owned
by the Museum. Is this true, or are
they still "in storage"? If memory
serves [...]

Raphael about More Happy Holiday ScenesTue, 12-06-2016 17:42"Four pieces of our CNW equipment"?
i thought UP owned the 2 Dash-9's?

Nick about More Happy Holiday ScenesTue, 12-06-2016 17:36I noticed in the fifth picture the
caption referred to the two stored
CNW's as "our" equipment. Has the
ownership of these units changed to
IRM?